Stella knew about the house that she been left in a Will that Cynthia had drawn up with the aid of a friend who knew a solicitor and had copied down all the relevant facts because Cynthia wasn’t able to afford anything like that with the little income she had been given by the Government because Joe had been in the army. It had been a long battle to get money from them.
Stella wasn’t going to wait till she was twenty one. Now another war was raging and England was being bombed by Germany – the man in charge was called Adolf Hitler. Apparently he couldn’t speak a word of English and that’s why there was a war, because he couldn’t understand the word NO! Well that’s what Stella thought. To say she was naive was an understatement, but then political problems are difficult and this war was partly a political maelstrom. A Prime Minister taken for a ride by a dictator who wanted to conquer Europe and rid the world of imperfection.
Stella wanted Cynthia to tell her all about the last conflict. ‘Well it was announced when it was all over, a war to end all wars, but that doesn’t seem to be the case, for here we are again, fighting for our lives.’
‘But what was it like?’ Stella wanted to know and what to expect.
Cynthia couldn’t tell her as this war was going to be different from the last one and more sophisticated. The advancement over the years would mean weapons and methods of bombing were going to be something more destructive.
‘All I can tell you my darling girl is that I was more or less the same age as you when that war began.’
It was painful for Cynthia to carry on with her account of the war because of losing Joe and especially when Joe was supposed to be exempt from going to war because he had one leg shorter than the other. Apparently they were sending all sorts of men to carry on with the war and they were sending cripples to fight with little or no training. It would have been another stigma and the pointed finger. ‘That man didn’t go to war, it didn’t matter that he was a cripple in the first place and couldn’t hardly walk fast, let alone run, when running could have saved his life. There is no compensation for the loss of a loved one until you came into my life.’
A lot of people died in the first world war and with the progress they have made and with the new inventions of war material, it could mean even greater disasters occurring with this war. Tomorrow we must visit your house and see if we can find any clues where your parents are.’
The next day was sunny and the first strains of sirens were wailing far and near of an imminent attack, but followed quickly by the all clear sound. It was a rehearsal for the real thing that might happen any time.
Cynthia and Stella were sitting in the garden eating their breakfast and Cynthia looking up at the sky, said ‘What a lovely day, you wouldn’t think we were at war with anyone.’ Stella sighed, ‘Yes, such a pity and all those men volunteering to go and fight, it hardly seems fair.’
After they had finished their breakfast and washed up they left the house and walked to the other house which was some distance away, but as it was a lovely day they sauntered along as if there were no cares in the world until they reached the house. There was a notice pinned to the door that the house was to be commandeered by the army as there was no-one living there.
Cynthia tore down the notice and scribbled on the back that there are people who own the house still living and are in possession as of today, she re-pinned the notice on the door.
The door was unlocked as they entered, so it must have been forced by the authorities. Someone rushed across the street from a neighbouring house and entered through the door and spoke to Cynthia and Stella. Being out of the breath it took some time for the woman to speak. ‘They came yesterday. They didn’t speak to anyone. They just barged in and then went away and put a guard on all night. He left this morning.’ The woman spoke curtly with very short sentences and left as quickly as she had come.
Cynthia shut the front door quietly and said ‘Well I never!’ Cynthia and Stella walked into the first living room. She pointed round the room. ‘Who do they think have cleaned the house every week, a fairy?. I’ve cleaned every room in the house except one which I can’t get into and has these letters on the door on blocks that can slide in all directions, but I don’t know why.’
Cynthia took Stella up to the door and looked through the keyhole. It seemed very bright, but no light shone from any window when they approached the house; that was a mystery in itself. Stella looked at the panel of letters and started to move them around and the word that sprang into her mind was “P A R A D I S E” and she placed the letters in order and the door opened as if by magic. Cynthia and Stella were afraid and wanted the door to shut. They tried to pull it, but it wouldn’t budge. They heard noises from downstairs and people running up the stairs and with hands over hearts they walked into the room and the door closed behind them.
Cynthia saw her husband, he was sitting at a table drinking a strange looking concoction and Stella walked towards two people who had outstretched arms. She knew they were her parents. They hugged her and the parents laid her in her cradle. She had turned back to being just a baby.
Cynthia and her husband Joe were re-united. She was nineteen again.
There were lots of people in that bright room and they walked away as if it was on the ground floor and when the last the group went through this portal that had materialized from nowhere, the bright light went out and the wall built itself up. It appeared to be waiting for Cynthia and Stella to pass through.
* * *
Voices outside the room were shouting to some poor wretch. ‘Open the door and let’s see what’s behind. Corporal, you had better be right about hearing voices from this room!’ Half a dozen men rushed to the centre of the room. The bright light that had been there as they rushed in suddenly diminished and whether they were seeing things beyond their comprehension, no one was prepared to say as one of the walls started to rebuild itself.
They were silent as they left the room and locked it. They stood, each transfixed looking at the door as it transformed to this panel of letters on individual sliding blocks and the letters spelt out “P A R A D I S E” and the bright light came back. They could see it through the cracks of the door which was slowly falling to bits before their eyes. They ran down the stairs and out onto the street and the building just disappeared.